Working for the public sector is good for fertility, according to new Economic and Social Research Council funded research at the University of Oxford. The study, which examined patterns of employment and childbearing decisions ...

A new study carried out at the University of Haifa has found that the hormone oxytocin, the "love hormone", which affects behaviors such as trust, empathy and generosity, also affects opposite behaviors, such as jealousy ...

At Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia, Minn., women can now give birth in rooms with whirlpool tubs and wi-fi. At Fairview Southdale in Edina, Minn., new moms can hire a massage therapist or a portrait photographer.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of California at Davis (USA) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany) present a virtual reconstruction of a female Neanderthal pelvis ...

Lying down during the early stages of childbirth may slow progress, according to a new systematic review. Cochrane Researchers found that the first stage of labour was significantly shorter for women who kneel, stand up, ...

Post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) immediately after giving birth is the largest threat to new mothers in high-income countries. An Australian study, featured in the open access journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, shows that ...

Low-income pregnant women and new mothers with diabetes have nearly twice the risk of experiencing depression during and after pregnancy than women without diabetes, according to a study in the February 25 issue of JAMA.

Childbirth

Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and birth of the infant, and birth of the placenta.. In some cases, childbirth is achieved through caesarean section, the removal of the neonate through a surgical incision in the abdomen, rather than through vaginal birth.